That (Man) Is On Fiyah!
You wake the next morning, slightly disoriented and sore from the flattened air mattress. It takes a few moments of looking around your new room to get your bearings. You rise excitedly, eager to get going. There had been no nightmares last night, and that is as good a sign as any that the day is going to go right. You shower, put on your best 'first day of work' clothes and duck out the door, grabbing a bagel to go. You glance towards the parking lot where your dusty car sits before looking at the time on your phone. What the heck, it's a beautiful morning and according to Google Maps, you're only a fifteen-minute walk away from the station. After the two-day drive to get here, you're in no hurry to get back in the car. Besides, you've got plenty of time.
You stroll along, taking nibbles of your bagel. It's still pretty quiet out. The sun hasn't quite chased away the chill of night and most of the windows you pass are foggy with dew. Soon enough, you reach the station. A large sign proclaiming "Home of the Mountain's Best Music!" makes it hard to miss. The neighboring buildings on either side are a thrift store you make note of for later and what looks like a grill/bar mix called Grillby's. It's too early for the place to be open but it might make a nice spot for lunch once in a while. You grin, a nervous excitement making your stomach turn. Taking a breath, you head inside. It's pretty much what you imagined it would be. The greeting room is simply furnished with a few chairs and a receptionist desk. The walls are covered in framed posters of various rock bands. All have signatures and little messages left by the members.
There's a dark-skinned girl behind the desk who looks up at the tinkling door. She has the craziest hair you've ever seen. It's partially shaved in an undercut, and dyed crimson red. The curly top is a rainbow mix of purple, blue, and dark green. You stare at her jealously. You could never pull off hair like that.
"Hey!" She stands and comes to meet you, revealing arms full of tattoos and a halter top jacket with ripped jeans. Oddly enough, she doesn't have a single piercing.
Suddenly you feel extremely overdressed.
"You must be _____." She says cheerfully, brushing a few strands of her colorful hair back.
Your voice gets stuck in your throat for a second. "Uh yep that's me! I guess I got the wrong dress code. I love your hair."
"Aw thanks." She proudly fluffs it. "Don't worry about dress codes. We don't have them. Just wear what makes you comfy. If that's a shirt and slacks, you do you."
Now that is a dress code you can dig. The rainbow girl introduces herself as Abby and leads you on a tour through the studio. It's a two-story building, with the main recording booth and sound systems on the second floor. The first floor holds mostly offices and a break room, also covered in band photos. Abby leads you upstairs and the two of you stand outside the glass panel of the recording booth. An older guy on the soundboard in the same room as you barely spares a glance as you enter, fiddling with all kinds of buttons.
"That's Joe," Abby provides. "He's friendlier when he's not working."
You nod a greeting at Joe, who grunts, and turn your attention to the two people in the booth. A tall, elegant lady with bottle blond hair pulled into a loose ponytail and a man a few years older than you with a sharp scar running down the side of his right cheek and black hair that falls to his chin. That has to be Tod, the guy who had given you the job. The sight of the scar on his face makes your own arm itch a little. You've spoken with Tod a few times on the phone before moving out here. After a few words, it had become clear that both of you had experience with...well anxiety to put it lightly. He hadn't asked for more details, and simply offered you the job.
"That's the latest news for traffic. Not a bad day for driving huh Em?" Tod glanced up as he spoke and gives you a short wave, his voice carrying through speakers set up around the room.
Em follows his gaze while smiling lightly. "Get out and enjoy that air while you can. Seems like we've got some serious cold fronts heading our way over the next week."
Tod removes his headphones and nods at Em who seamlessly moves into the next segment on her own, talking about some local band performing a few days from now.
"_____" Tod walks over to you and warmly shakes your hand. "Welcome! What do you think of the studio?"
Oh good heavens he's a good-looking man. Scar included. That combined with his wild locks made him look rather...wild. Sudden shyness made your voice a little quiet. "It's really nice. Thank you for welcoming me here."
He laughs good naturally. "No need to be stiff. We're an open book here." He clapped you heartily on the back. "No point in standing around then. Let's get you to work."
~~~~~~
This work turns out to be mostly sitting around and listening to the various types of music that the station specialized in. You recognize several of the bands and songs, bobbing your head in time with the music. There are many pieces you didn't recognize but definitely make it on your 'to download' list. For a good two hours, Tod has you sit by Joe as he worked. The time is spent in awkward silence, as you feel he wouldn't appreciate being interrupted by questions. Abby seems to realize this and takes pity on you and asks for some help with front desk work. It turns out there is a lot more to running a station than picking a song and hitting play. Artist permissions, royalties, guest appearances are just a few of the things that need to be worked on. People always seem to be coming and going and the names and faces started to blur together in a whirl of introductions. The only one you don't get a chance to talk to from is the blonde from this morning.
Before you know it, the clock hits 4 pm and then Abby is giving you a list of new music to familiarize yourself with "if you want to be hip with the latest hits!" on your way out the door. In a bit of a daze you leave the station. Talk about a whirlwind of a day! It's just a shame you hadn't had a chance to go into the studio itself where the various talk shows happened. Baby steps! You'll get there.
"huh, guess i was right."
You nearly jump out of your skin at the sudden voice right behind you. You whirl, heart pounding. "Good g-! Sans!"
The skeleton stands there, hands shoved in his jacket pocket. Aside from switching out the pink slippers for a pair of untied sneakers, he's wearing the same blue coat/sweat shorts combo as last night. He closes an eye socket in an exaggerated wink. "sorry buddy. didn't mean to rattle your bones."
You groan loudly. "First you scare me then you hit me with that awful pun. You're quite a guy."
He only grins in response.
"What are you doing here?" He couldn't have possibly...followed you, right? Oh great way to be a paranoid git.
Sans points up at the radio sign. "i didn't think of it til this morning. knew i recognized ebbt from somewhere. it's a funny coincidence. the place i wanna take ya for burgers is right next door. figured there was no point in making ya walk all the way back to your place."
Leave it to a lazy bones to be considerate about something like that. You glance past him to the bar. "Oh! Wow, that is funny. You could have texted me. Were you waiting long?
"nah. just got here myself."
Well at least you hadn't made him wait. "I was wondering if the food was any good. Have you eaten here before?"
He laughs loudly and you wonder if you're missing a joke or something. "you could say that. c'mon let's eat."
Sans leads the way into the bar. The moment the two of you step in, warmth washes over you, taking off the chill from outside. You haven't been in many bars yourself, but you're pretty sure they're don't typically smell like a campfire. You get your answer for the odd smell a moment later. The man behind the bar is literally on fire! The sight of the flames makes you tense up, bringing up memories you don't want to visit. Instinctively, you reach out and grab Sans' sleeve. "He's-!"
Sans stops and looks at you with mild concern. "you ok there?" He follows your horrified gaze to the man. "that's grillby. he's a fire monster. well, elemental actually. he's supposed to look like that."
Right of course. You flush. Stupid, letting yourself get worked up that. You give Sans a wide smile. "H-heh sorry! I thought maybe I was gonna have to swoop in to save the day again!" Sans watches you for a second, gauging your face. You look away from him before he can see how shaken you are.
"i guess if you're not use to it, seeing him could make anyone a little hot under the collar."
You let out a relieved laugh and push at his shoulder slightly. "Nah, I just have a burning passion to be a hero."
Sans chuckles, his grin reaching new levels. "nice."
As he leads you to the bar and your initial shock over the burning man fades, you look around the rest of the bar. It's filled mostly with monsters, many of those of a dog-like nature. They all seem to know Sans, calling out greetings as you pass by. You try not to feel self-conscious with the sensation of curious gazes on your back. You quickly join Sans on the stools. You can't help but notice charred spots here and there on the surface of the table.
"hey grillbz." Sans waves lazily as the monster approaches. He turns to you. "you ok with the burger?"
"Huh? Oh yes!," you say quickly. Grillby has a pair of glasses suspended on his face but you can't see any sign of a nose. Or even eyes! Grillby notices you looking and nods in your direction, letting out a pop and crackle, like burning logs.
"drink?" Sans translates.
"I'll take a water. Please," you add and Grillby makes another soft crackling noise.
"too bad, he doesn't touch the stuff," Sans says with a wide smirk.
Oh god! Of course he wouldn't! "I'm sorry!" you stutter out. "I'm good with just the burger."
Grillby sighs in a long-suffering way and glances at Sans. Sans just shrugs with an air of innocence. "what? ya never do actually touch it."
Oh good grief he's teasing you. You groan and put your face in your hands. "You're kind of a jerk you know that?"
"maybe. but you're smiling."
Crap, you are. Grillby leaves to get your order as you fight to keep the grin off your face. Sans turns and makes light conversation with a white dog wearing a suit of armor also sitting at the bar. You watch curiously, fighting your urge to pet him. These aren't normal dogs, you can't just go around petting them! The dog leaves quickly (and you're only slightly disappointed) right as your food arrives. You didn't see Grillby bring it, but there's a glass of water next to your burger. You look pointedly at Sans and take a deep swig.
"so i've been dying to ash you since last night-"
You choke on your water and Sans thumps your back. "Gah! About what?" you cough.
Sans turns back to his plate of fries, dumping almost the entire bottle of ketchup on them. Ignoring your horrified expression at this misuse of condiments, he says "'m not trying to sound ungrateful about the whole saving the apartment thing but i wanna know. why did you do it? you could'a just kept on going, doing your...running thing. but you came over and knocked on our door. i thought you were just gonna complain about the noise or something. first time we've had a neighbor actually run in and deal with it."
"Have you ever had to deal with a screaming fire alarm for any amount of time?" you ask, picking up your burger. "It's torture. Honestly I was gonna just make sure you knew how to turn it off before the whole apartment was triggered." You took a bite of the burger and nearly moaned. "This is amazing!" You eagerly continued devouring the burger as Sans plays with his fries, not really eating them.
"and that's it?"
You swallow your bite and meet the white lights of his sockets. He's staring at you, like he knows that there's more to it than just that. You set your burger down and take a sip of water before answering him. "Well...I uh. I've had experiences with fires in the past." You're staring down at your plate, unable to meet his gaze. "I used to love campfires and candles but now even just the smell of burning makes me a little...anxious? It's hard to explain why. When I think that something might actually be on fire I just panic. So that's why I kind of freaked out when we came in here...."
And now you're babbling. Sans puts his hand over yours. Without realizing it, your fingers have curled into a fist. The feeling of his fingers on yours is soothing. The bones of his hand are thick, thicker than you would have figured skeleton fingers to be. Fingers? You didn't know the actual term for the individual bones. It's been a very long time since your last health class. He taps the back of you hand gently until you relax your grip.
"sorry pal," Sans says softly. "didn't mean to dig up old bones."
"Was that supposed to be a pun?" Regardless, it brings a smile back to your face. "Sorry. It makes sense that you'd want to know why some strange guy would just run into your apartment without warning."
"not gonna lie. it surprised me." Sans takes a large bite of his soaked fries and you can't help but feel a little disappointed when he takes his hand away. But even with that, you don't feel completely overwhelmed with regret at talking about it. It's odd. Normally you keep stuff like that bottled up. It's just easier not to say anything about it, especially since it's something that can't change. But Sans is so easy to talk to. You'll have to watch yourself and make sure you don't say too much. You don't want to scare him away with your history. You've literally known him for a day!
"you got kinda quiet. you ok?" Sans has nearly finished his plate and is using a plastic spoon to sweep up the leftover ketchup.
You've got to keep it together. You give him a reassuring smile. "Yeah! It was just a very intense first day. And now I'm remembering all the unpacking I still have to do." You groan and put your head on the table. "I can't keep putting it off or I'm gonna be living out of boxes forever. Moving sucks."
"want some help unpacking?"
You lift your head and put your hand over your chest in mock surprise. "Is the lazy bones offering to actually get off his butt and help?"
"i was thinking more of a management position from the couch."
You giggle and smack him lightly. "That's my role you bone head."
His eye sockets seem to light up and you catch yourself. You groan.
"that pun alone deserves a reward. i don't have anything else planned for the night anyway," he says, finishing off his plate. "put it on my tab grillbz!" he calls to the fire elemental, who you swear somehow manages to roll his eyes.
You make a face at Sans. "That much ketchup can't be good for you."
Sans hops down from the stool. "don't worry. i won't let it ketchup to me."
Your shriek almost matches Papyrus' from last night. "Okay just for that you are on dish duty for the night!"
"well dish sucks."
"Oh my gosh!"